GTLM: Never give up
Verifying his pre-race pledge that he wouldn’t be conservative despite his No. 3 team’s advantageous position in the title race, Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia swept past class polesitter John Edwards in the opening laps to lead the class. Edwards ceded third to Earl Bamber’s Porsche later in the first hour as well. The 66 Ford made contact with the second BMW 25 on the opening lap, partially dislodging the right-front headlight on the Team RLL M8 GTE (which would lead to a prolonged pit stop later to change the front clip).Garcia built the lead to 5sec while Tommy Milner moved the second Corvette up to third from his eighth-place start by the half-hour mark. Corvette then managed its duel with the Chip Ganassi Ford squad, aided impressively by the Pratt & Miller pit crew who gained positions for their cars on at least six occasions.
“Nine points is a good position to be in — it means we don’t have to push like crazy, but we still have to be smart,” Magnussen had said on Friday.That comment loomed large when Garcia lost control of the No. 3 coming out of the pits at dusk and spun into the wall, causing extensive front-end damage.
The crew effected repairs in under five minutes, but the delay moved the No. 3 car to ninth and last in class. Yet the drama was far from finished as the Fords, Porsches and Edwards’ BMW dueled in the dark. With the No. 67 Ford of Ryan Briscoe fading to fifth in the final half-hour, the No. 3 Corvette driven by Magnussen, Garcia and Marcel Fassler hung in for eighth. Just enough. Porsche’s No. 911 earned the class win, displacing the No. 4 Corvette in the final hour.
“We stole the race. We knew we had a good car but we didn’t expect that,” admitted Pilet.“An hour ago this sucked. We didn’t get a win but we got a championship and that’s what matters,” said Magnussen. “I think what made the difference was the attitude of never giving up.” Rebounding from near disaster, Garcia exulted in the about face.
“Instead of basing our performance on the No. 67 car, we planned an offensive race,” he said. ” In the middle stint I went from fifth to first, but what was looking to be one of the best races of my career turned into one of the most embarrassing races of my career.“I don’t quite know what happened. I wasn’t concentrating as much as I should have, maybe I was talking on the radio, but a car came across me as I exited pit lane and when I hit the throttle the car got away from me.
“I thought that was the end of it. But the team did a fantastic job repairing the car and then all I could do was pass the Ferrari for eighth place, hope for some yellows and trust the guys in the No. 4 car to put pressure on the No. 67. That’s exactly what they did. It was a classic case of Corvette teamwork.”
Cooper MacNeil, Gunnar Jeannette and Daniel Serra celebrate in victory lane. (Image by Phillip Abbott/LAT)
GTD: First among equals
When the field packed up under the full-course yellow with around 90 minutes remaining, drama was assured as the top four were separated by less than 2sec heading into the final hour. At the head of the queue was the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers, who held the lead until his final pit stop with 53m to go — right at the edge of the Lambo’s range.The Michael Shank Racing Acura team opted to put Alvaro Parente in for the final stint in its effort to get the driver’s crown for Katherine Legge over Sellers and Madison Snow, but the takeover was costly as the car was blocked exiting the pits behind the No. 4 Corvette, burning precious seconds. But the Acura driver fought back, passing Sellers but trailing Serra in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 he shared with MacNeil and Jeannette to the end. The final podium spot was enough to secure the crown for Sellers and Snow.
“I’m very, very happy – this is the first time I’ve finished Petit, and my first win,” Serra said. “The team did a great job, a perfect 10 hours. It was perfectly executed, perfect pit stops and no mistakes on the track.”Added MacNeil: “It was an epic weekend, to finish off the WeatherTech Championship with a victory in the WeatherTech car,” said MacNeil. “A big hat’s off to Daniel and Gunnar for driving their butts off for the whole race, the whole weekend for that matter. The Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech guys never put a wheel wrong all weekend, with no penalties, and that’s how you win in a competitive championship like the WeatherTech.”
Tire woes were a common issue in both GT classes, with the Land Motorsport and Magnus Racing Audis, and Wright Motorsports Porsche among GTD front-runners to suffer multiple punctures at the left rear for reasons that remained unclear (Magnus, for one, insisted it was running “conservative” camber settings). The Wright No. 58 deserved some sort of medal after persevering to a fourth place in class despite all these issues and other setbacks like a drive-through penalty for thumping the eventual class winner as it came out of the pits.
One for the ages
The unrelenting pace shattered the Petit Le Mans distance record by some 80 miles. It was boosted by the glorious weather throughout, which also encouraged the huge crowd on hand that stayed on as night fell to see the down-to-the-wire dramas play out. It’s difficult to imagine a better way to close out the season — or to complete the evocative tributes to late series founder Don Panoz that were a regular refrain throughout the weekend. This was the kind of race he surely would have cherished.